The Countdown
by White Rose Keeper
Summary: A kiss at the stroke of midnight on New Years... Ginny and Harry make Ron tell Hermione how he feels about her and dares him to kiss her when the bell tolls. What a tradition, eh? 7th year. Reviews make me happy.


Ron sat nervously on the other side of the Common Room watching her. She sat on one of the couches near the snowy window reading a rather large book. *Of course,* he thought with a small smile grazing his lips, but soon he caught himself and his smile was replaced with a frown. She turned a page. He looked down and breathed in deeply, *Why me?* He breathed out.  
  
Soon the portrait hole opened, Ron shrunk back into the dark corners of the room when Hermione looked up from her book. Ginny came in through the hole; she walked across the room over to Hermione, exchanged a few words, and when Hermione shrugged, Ginny got up and was about to go out before she saw Ron in the shadows.   
  
Ginny squinted and with a puzzled look took a seat next to Ron. "What are you doing back here?" Ron didn't answer, only shrugged and took a quick look up at Hermione who started reading again in the glow of the fire. Ginny apparently saw who he looked at and an all knowing smile formed. "Nerves, eh?"   
  
Ron sighed and covered his face with his hands and nodded. "Ginny…" he looked up at his sister, "I've- I've never really done this before," he finished lamely. Ginny smiled sympathetically and was about to say something, but Ron sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Why did they ever invent a stupid tradition with kissing at midnight? A better question would be: why did Harry have to remind me of this tradition? Better yet: why soon after that reminder, my annoying little sister dared me to do it on the girl I like?" He shot a nasty look at Ginny. Before Ginny could retaliate Ron added more quietly, "And worse yet is that the girl I like is one of my best friends." Ron sighed again, more exasperated than the last time.  
  
Ginny rolled her eyes but looked remorseful. "Well, I'm sorry if I'm just so annoying like you say I am, but I dared you to do this for a reason." Ron looked over at her with an eyebrow raised. "Honestly, Ron, you've had three years to think about her, now you have to have some nerve! What happened to that courage I know you have…" She looked at the worried and messed up haired Ron next to her, "…somewhere?" She smirked and Ron glared but chuckled and shook his head.  
  
"Yea, you're right," he gave her a weak smile. He looked at the clock in the Common Room and saw that it was 10 o' clock already. "I better go and talk with her…" he got up and looked at Ginny.   
  
She gave him the thumbs up and winked, "Go get her, tiger." Ron frowned, obviously confused. Ginny sighed, "Muggle saying."   
  
"Oh, right," Ron said in a far away voice. He started to walk across the room towards the couch where Hermione sat reading. Everything around him felt like it went in slow motion as he walked towards her. He heard nothing. People laughing and talking were like whispers in his ears; soon he couldn't hear anything, only the pounding of his worried heart. Then, unexpectedly, he stopped walking.   
  
He stood there in the middle of the Common Room, and his daze snapped; he finally heard everyone laughing and talking and having a jolly good time. *Why am I so bloody nervous?* He thought to himself as he looked around at everyone. *There is really no reason to,* he looked at Hermione reading. *Who cares if she doesn't feel the same way? At least after that I'll be able to move on and I'll still be friends with her… pathetic if I'm not.* And with that last thought he sucked up his chest and walked over to Hermione with a lighter step.  
  
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Now it was Ginny's turn to watch. From across the room she busied herself with reading one of Ron's Quidditch magazines, every now and then looking up to see how Ron and Hermione were doing; see if they were still talking, or laughing… or even stealing some kisses. Ginny grinned.  
  
"Hello," someone whispered close to her ear. Ginny gasped and turned to see who it was. She smacked Harry's arm. He laughed and sat next to her. "How are the two lovebirds doing?"   
  
Ginny was actually taken off guard by Harry, physically and mentally, but she was determined not to let him know. "They're not lovebirds yet, that's all I can tell you," she started to read the magazine again.   
  
"How long have they been talking for?" Harry asked craning his neck over the crowd to see his two best friends laughing on the other side of the room. Ginny looked up at the clock.  
  
"About an hour; it's already eleven," Ginny said and gave Harry a worried glance. "I hope Ron knows he only has an hour left to tell her."   
  
Harry stopped craning his neck over the rowdy crowd and looked over at Ginny. "Well if he does or doesn't, we promised we wouldn't interfere, and I plan not to. I want to see what Ron has up his sleeve," he grinned.   
  
Ginny sighed and grinned back, "I do too." They looked at each other and their eyes locked. Their grins faded a little and they sat looking at each other for a few moments. Ginny's breathing halted when Harry started to lean forward towards her. Her eyes started to close and they were mere inches away from each other-  
  
POP!  
  
They both backed away from each other rather quickly when everyone in the room started to yell merrily. Ginny felt her cheeks burn and avoided Harry's eyes by taking a quick look to the side to see what the fuss was about. It seemed that Seamus and Dean found a large bottle of butterbeer and they opened it for celebration; foam was spilling everywhere and it was being poured into glasses.   
  
She shot a glance at Harry and saw he too was blushing and was scowling at the commotion in the Common Room. Ginny smiled a little to herself, he was going to kiss me. She picked up the magazine that seemed to have fallen on the floor and cleared her throat. She began to read it as if nothing happened. "Lovely weather we're having."  
  
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Ron and Hermione finished laughing and sat side by side smiling. Ron coughed. "So," he began with a smirk. "How do you feel about the ending of this year? Saddened? Happy? Joyful? Depressed?" Ron took another drink from his butterbeer.  
  
Hermione giggled, "Ron you're using synonyms, they mean the same thing." Ron put on a puzzled face for a split second then formed a silly grin making Hermione laugh out loud.   
  
"Don't change the subject!" Ron wagged a finger at her. She continued to laugh a little, her cheeks rosy colored by the warmth of the room. *She's beautiful,* Ron thought and his grin became smaller. He stopped staring and smiled again. "No, but really, how do you feel about the end of another year? Especially since this is our last year, come to think about it."  
  
Hermione's face turned thoughtful and she took a sip from her own cup. "The honest truth," she giggled unexpectedly. "God, that's redundant…" She stopped giggling and looked at Ron. "I'm actually sad another year has gone by. I don't think I got what I wanted out of this year." She looked down at the cup in her hands grimly. She breathed in and smiled, "What about you?"   
  
Ron smiled, "I'm actually looking forward for a new year. For me it sort of means a new beginning… for any element of my life." His smile faded and he deepened the stare with Hermione, trying to get her to realize what he really meant.  
  
Hermione blinked and nodded. "That's a good way of looking at it Ron." She smiled and he smiled back.   
  
They sat for a few moments in silence until Dean yelled, "Just a half hour more everyone!" The people in the Common Room cheered and continued to talk and eat snacks. (From where? who knows.)  
  
Soon after Ron saw Harry coming over towards them, Ron narrowed his eyes. "Hey you two," Harry smiled and looked back and forth between them.  
  
"Hi, Harry!" Hermione said warmly. "I haven't seen you all evening, where have you been?" *Yea, Harry, where have you been?* Ron thought to himself and he gave Harry a grin.   
  
"Uh, reading one of Ron's Quidditch magazines with Ginny on the other side of the room. We didn't know you guys were here on this side." *Nice one, Harry.* "Actually, now that I've found you… Hermione, you wouldn't mind if I borrow Ron for just one moment will you?"  
  
"Oh no, go ahead. Why would I mind?" Hermione frowned quizzically. Harry grabbed Ron's arm and began dragging him away.   
  
"Er, no reason," Harry said over his shoulder and brought him to one of the corners of the room. "So," he whispered. "How's everything going?"   
  
Ron rolled his eyes, "Fine."   
  
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Only fine…?"   
  
Ron sighed, "Yes, it's fine, why are you checking up on me anyways? I thought you said you wouldn't."   
  
"Yea, I know, but it just seemed like you needed some help at that moment. You guys became very quiet."   
  
Ron rolled his eyes again and nodded, "Yea, yea… just go now. Don't worry; I think I have it under control. I'll tell her soon enough. I swear."   
  
Harry grinned, "Alright, mate. Good luck." He roughly patted his shoulder and went off back to Ginny.  
  
Ron shook his head and walked back towards Hermione, who started to read again. Ron smirked, "What are you reading?"   
  
Hermione looked up and put the book down as Ron took his seat. "It's a book that I was always interested to read, but I was always too young to check it out of the restricted section. Now, I can." She beamed proudly, and Ron smiled. "So what did Harry want that *I* couldn't hear about?"  
  
Ron took a drink of his butterbeer, "Obviously something that I can't tell you." Ron grinned evilly.   
  
"Oh, you're mean," Hermione said, looking hurt, and taking a drink from her cup too.  
  
Ron laughed, and at that moment Seamus and Dean with a giggly Parvati and Lavender got up on one of the tables in the Common Room and yelled, "FIVE MORE MINUTES!!!" Ron looked away worriedly, *already only five minutes?*  
  
"Ron, what's wrong?" Hermione touched his shoulder in concern. Ron's head flew back to look at her.   
  
"Uh, nothing," He took a large gulp of his butterbeer, and to his dismay finished it. "Erm," he looked into Hermione's cup, it was almost empty, too. "Do you want me to get you another? I need some, too."   
  
Hermione looked into her cup also. "Sure, thank you," she smiled, but he could tell she was still confused. He got up and went to fill both cups with more butterbeer.  
  
He had to go into the crowd but it really wasn't a problem since he towered over most of the people anyways. When he was pouring more butterbeer Seamus passed by him and winked, also giving him the thumbs up. "Saw you with Hermione, way to go you old dog," And with that he turned and left a very befuddled Ron.   
  
He was holding both of the full cups and he turned back into the crowd over where Hermione was. "Here you go," he handed her cup over and sat down next to her.   
  
"Thank you," she said.  
  
"Hermione… I need to talk with you about something," Ron put his cup down and Hermione inferred she had to do the same.   
  
"Yes, Ron?" She said and turned more towards him, accidentally rubbing her leg against his.   
  
Ron sucked in a breath, "Well, you see…" But he was cut off by people starting to count down from ten.  
  
"TEN!"  
  
He tried to continue, "For a while now-"  
  
"NINE!"  
  
"I've been starting to realize how lucky-" Ron said loudly over the laughter and mirth.  
  
"EIGHT!"  
  
"How- how lucky I am to have friends like you and Harry-" Hermione nodded, but he could tell she was struggling to hear him.  
  
"SEVEN!"  
  
Ron ran a hand through his hair, "I really don't know how to say-"  
  
"SIX!"  
  
"What?" Hermione said in a loud voice leaning toward Ron so she could hear him better.  
  
"FIVE!"  
  
Ron leaned closer so she would hear, "I don't know how to tell you that I-"  
  
"FOUR!"  
  
"I- I really care and-" Ron choked on his words.  
  
"THREE!"  
  
He looked into Hermione's eyes. She looked back utterly baffled.  
  
"TWO!"  
  
"-and I love you."  
  
"ONE! ...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"  
  
Ron leaned forward just an inch more and kissed Hermione, lacing one of his hands through her hair.  
  
He pulled away after a moment, and Hermione opened her eyes. She was breathing deeply and she looked almost near tears. Ron thought the worst at that moment. *Oh no, she doesn't like me. She's crying because she feels bad. God, I am such a prat.*   
  
Then Hermione smiled and started to laugh happily, a tear falling down her cheek. She threw her arms around his neck and continued to laugh. Ron blinked a few times then smiled blissfully himself and wrapped his long arms around her. He lifted her head with one of his hands so he could look at her. She was smiling and they leaned toward each other and kissed again, holding each other close.  
  
In a few moments they realized the room had gone quiet, and they stopped to turn and see why. Everyone was staring at them, all grinning, then they all applauded and cheered yelling things like, "Finally!" and "What a way to begin a new year!"   
  
Ron's ears turned red and Hermione also blushed. They looked at each other again and hugged tightly.  
  
"Where are Harry and Ginny? They weren't in the crowd of people who were staring at us just now," Hermione said when she let go of Ron.  
  
Ron took her hand in his and stood her up with him. "Let's go find them then." He smiled and led her across the room.  
  
They stopped when they reached the couch on the other side. Both their mouths fell open at the sight in front of them.  
  
Ginny and Harry seemed to be kissing quite passionately unaware of anyone around them.  
  
Ron composed himself and cleared his throat rather loudly to get the twos attention. "OYE!"  
  
Harry and Ginny turned and saw a very agitated Ron and a sniggering Hermione. They sprang back from each other and Harry hit his head against the wall.   
  
Ginny spoke first, quite worriedly, "Ron don't do-"  
  
Then Ron's face changed from agitated to amused and he seemed to be holding back a laugh. "Honestly, you two should just get a room if you're going to be doing that…" He began to laugh. Ginny rolled her eyes and got up to smack Ron over the head. 


End file.
